City official's two hats come with two salaries

Robert Lipscomb earns keep in development of Pyramid, fairgrounds, housing

As the city's director of Housing and Community Development, Robert Lipscomb controls redevelopment of The Pyramid and the Mid-South Fairgrounds.

As executive director of the Memphis Housing Authority, he oversees the long-running redevelopment of the city's blighted housing projects.

These two huge jobs were combined in 2000 by then-Mayor Willie Herenton as a way to streamline local government. But the combined duties come with a considerable benefit: two salaries.

His combined salaries -- $118,879 at HCD, $132,000 at MHA -- make Lipscomb the second-highest-paid person in either city or county government and schools, just behind Memphis City Schools Supt. Kriner Cash.

Lipscomb's HCD salary includes a 5 percent pay cut instituted by the City Council and the Wharton administration.

Lipscomb said his pay for both positions comes from federal dollars that are passed through to the city.

It's a unique arrangement, one that has Lipscomb receiving no benefits from MHA, a quasi-governmental nonprofit agency akin to the Memphis Convention and Visitors Bureau. Instead, he receives city benefits from his HCD post.

Lipscomb argues that, since benefits such as pension, insurance and a car aren't paid for the MHA job, it's actually saving the city money, since it would have to provide those benefits if someone else filled that post.

He defended the salaries, saying that the MHA has helped pull in more than $150 million in federal grants in the last decade, and he discounts suggestions that he has too much work for one person.

"If you look at what MHA has done, we have brought more federal dollars into this city than anybody," he said. "The way I look at it, I think the return on my investment is pretty good."

Lipscomb also served as chief financial officer for the city from 2005 to 2008 and didn't earn any extra income from that position, he said.

Memphis Mayor A C Wharton said that Lipscomb, long known as one of the hardest-working employees in city government, is worth every penny he earns "and then some."

"It's a one-of-a-kind situation," said Wharton. "I think we're fortunate to have someone like Robert who wears two hats.

"I thought I put in long hours. Robert puts in hours longer than mine."

City Councilman Myron Lowery said he had no problem with Lipscomb earning two salaries, especially since Lipscomb has secured about $150 million in five HOPE VI grants to remake the city's public housing stock while tackling the redevelopment of The Pyramid and Mid-South Fairgrounds, which are coming to fruition.

Lowery also said that Lipscomb has run an ethical ship, with none of the scandals that have rocked city government in recent years surfacing in either HCD or MHA.

"There's been no hint of scandal or anything like that, which we've seen in other areas of city government," he said.